Chapter 5: Arrival
The crackling inferno of blue runes infused with blood and void magic swirled like a storm around Mercedes as the fortress’s dungeon walls evaporated from view like paint from a canvas scorched beneath the flames. She pitched forward into the darkness, a startled cry trapped behind clenched teeth as the magic teleportation circle beneath her stumbling feet vanished into an open sea of nothingness.
A hollow, curious sensation that was neither falling nor floating washed over the Sparrow. The albino’s stunned cognizance quickly twisted into anxiety beneath the oppressive heaviness that pressed in from all sides. Her pink eyes fluttered erratically as she attempted to remain alert and conscious.
The pain searing through wounds in her chest helped. Small beads of blood floated in the darkness around her, congealing into strings of crimson droplets that sucked her life away. Mercedes knew she needed to maintain focus, now more than ever, as the Abyss, which governed the space between realms, was by far the most treacherous terrain any traveler could cross.
The endless tide of nothingness wasted no time in claiming her. It seeped through the albino's pale skin and coiled around her frail body and mind like a cold blanket of terror as it lapped against the burning pain left by the ravager's claws across her left shoulder and chest. The Sparrow could feel herself slipping into the strange numbing comfort it brought even as her mind screamed at her to stay awake.
‘I’m almost there. I just need to stay—alive.’
A Mystic Realm portal finally appeared. A flickering circle of brilliant star-like runes that glowed with the gentle blue divine power of the Primordial Seraphelios.
‘As expected,’ Mercedes relented with an internal sigh of frustration. The magical portal hidden within the flooded dungeons of Eldermoor Keep wasn’t something she was capable of altering—but she had hoped for a more neutral arrival destination.
‘Is this another test? What does He expect me to do in this situation?’ The High Priestess’s warnings were not so easily dismissed, but as always, the Sparrow knew she had no choice. ‘The longer I remain in the void, the slimmer my chances of surviving.’
The albino reached towards the swirling, glowing portal, ignoring the strings of crimson beads that burst around her hand and sleeve, eager to feel solid and whole once more. But the moment her blood-stained fingertips brushed against the pulsating portal runes, their gentle heavenly blue color shifted threateningly to a pulsating red.
[Unidentified Intruder Detected. Traces of a Taboo Bloodline Detected.]
Scanning…
Scan incomplete.
[Hostile Tether Detected. Summoning Guardian Titan.]
‘What?! No, no, no!’
Mercedes's internal panic barely registered over the flashing red screens that filled her vision, paralyzing the albino with dread.
‘Vortexus didn’t mention anything about this! Shit! What do I do now?’
A chill ran down the Sparrow’s spine as the portal brightened with a blinding crimson radiance. She could feel the presence of something terrifyingly powerful growing closer, and her mind went numb with the certainty of death.
‘Just as well. I’d rather die here than go back.’
Her eyes widened as a Titan’s massive draconian frame began to emerge through the portal before a cold, black tendril twisted itself tightly around the paralyzed albino’s waist and yanked her back with such force it felt as if her spine had been snapped in two.
The blaring red portal, now diminished behind the formidable Titan’s form, which resembled something between a dragon and phoenix, grew smaller and smaller as Mercedes lurched further away. A blinding radiant nova burst followed them threateningly through the void before it also evaporated from view.
But there was no time for the Sparrow to feel relieved. The magic behind Vortexus’s teleportation spell was weakening, and her consciousness was fading with it. The coiled grip of darkness that tightened around her transparent body was the only thing keeping the abyss from tearing her soul apart.
Despite her frantic desperation, the albino’s heavy eyes slowly slid shut. The black void of nothingness around her transformed into the nostalgic arms of Susan Bennet that wrapped around the Sparrow in a comforting, lonely hug—and Mercedes was back in the blue attic of the two-story family house, listening to her foster mother’s soothing bedtime lullaby.
“I know the world must seem like a large, terrifying place, but you’re safe now,” Susan murmured before pressing her lips against the pale, wispy bangs of the frail nine-year-old albino’s hairline. “You don’t have to go back to the orphanage if you don’t want to. You can stay here with me—with us. We can be your family.”
A thousand screams burned at the back of the Sparrow’s throat before she pulled away and turned to face the dull gray husk of the long-dead Mrs. Bennet.
“Liar,” Mercedes whispered, her voice coated with anger and regret as she watched the illusion fade away like sand blown across a plane of dark glass until only the void awaited her burning, dying gaze.
Not. Yet.
A will that was not her own slammed into the albino. The familiar ice-cold, searing heat ripped a scream from her consciousness as pain radiated through every nerve of her physical form. The dark seal that marked the contract binding her soul to the power of the abyss glowed with malevolent primordial glory just before the Sparrow slammed into another portal.
Mercedes clenched her teeth as her brain crumpled beneath the clawing power that pulsed through her veins. Her heart sputtered feebly out of rhythm, smothered by the unfathomable force pressing her feeble form against the violet arcane runes, which sparked in warning before they slowly swirled and shifted in response to the terrifying being’s command.
The Sparrow could feel her life bleeding out, could feel every bone in her body fracturing and breaking, could feel her mind shattering beneath the agony of it all as her body and soul were forced into the Mystic Realms by the ruthless, unstoppable power of her Primordial Master.
image [https://www.royalroad.com/dist/img/ornaments/16.png]
Light danced above the albino’s blinking eyes in the hues of sunset, filled with far more color and vibrance than Mercedes had ever witnessed. It was nothing like the depressing grey palette of death and decay her life in Eldermoor Keep had become. The lights twinkling above her were so glorious and indescribable that the Sparrow couldn't help but wonder if they were real or the result of her broken mind hallucinating.
Her fragmented thoughts floated in and out of focus as the pretty colors faded and returned. The question of where and how came and went with neither urgency nor purpose beneath the suffocating orchestra of pain that slowly ripped its way through her body until it consumed Mercedes from head to toe. The albino was whole again, but she was far from in one piece.
‘The first breath is always the hardest.’
The Sparrow's lungs battled futilely against the protesting drums of her heart pounding against her collapsing lungs and swelling brain.
‘I’m—still alive?’
The sickeningly, bitter-sweet taste of life, which cooled and burned her throat in equal measure, confirmed this as her eyes burned with tears of neither gratitude nor relief. For the third time in her eighteen years of living, the albino had tasted death, only to be dragged back from the brink of oblivion by a power that was not her own.
Mercedes wanted to laugh, but she lacked the strength to summon so much as a smile as she lay there, like a broken doll awaiting its fate.
Her vision came in and out of focus with each painful rise and fall of her chest. She focused on the strange sky overhead and frowned at what looked like marble archways spiraling across the swirling heavens of vibrant colors.
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‘I can’t move a finger, but I’m breathing—that’s something.’
Mercedes’s pink eyes widened as a sudden pain raked its way through her chest, forming a bloody cough, which sprayed past her lips, pelting against her face and neck before accumulating in her throat.
‘Never mind.’
It took the Sparrow a moment to realize the jarring thud in her ears were footsteps rather than her heart attempting to explode inside her chest. Large shadows crowded around her as voices clamored in anger and confusion.
The albino could have sworn she saw a sword flicker before her eyes, but that quickly disappeared when a woman dressed in familiar white robes, eerily similar to those High Priestess Primula had died in, shoved her way to the front of the crowd and knelt over the dying albino.
“Back up and give me some room. She needs a healer!” the Priestess, younger than Mercedes had first realized, bellowed out, her voice shaking between panic and irritation.
“Keep your guard up. It looks like a demon attacked her."
"Where are the Bureau Mystics? Something caused all the Nexus portals to shut down."
“Those garments—is she even a Mystic?”
"Is the city under attack? Shouldn't we find safety first?"
“Judging by their quality, she appears to be from a Mundane world.”
"There's no need to panic. The Titans and Archmage would react if the city was in any danger."
“Disciple Gladys, that sigil on her coat—”
The voices fluttered further and further away as the Sparrow did her best to focus in on the brunette Priestess anxiously examining her wounds.
“Don’t worry. You'll be just fine,” Gladys said as she draped the albino’s torn chest with her handkerchief. “I've healed wounds far worse than this."
'Your expression tells a different story.'
"Just focus on your breathing, Raven. I’m going to start by repairing the damage to your chest.”
Mercedes blinked in confusion before remembering the jacket she had borrowed from Ray. 'I can’t believe that worked. Alright then. Go ahead. It's your funeral.'
The Sparrow closed her eyes briefly as the Priestess placed her hands over the handkerchief. A dense, brilliant golden light spread from the healer's fingers, filling the albino’s broken body with a warmth that tingled as it sank beneath her skin to mend the organs, bones, and muscles beneath.
A flurry of information panels flickered into focus above Mercedes, distracting her from the sensation of her fingers and toes twitching with sudden revitalization as divine magic overflowed into every orifice of her body.
[Status Update! Near Death! Your Health has dropped below 10%.]
[Notice! Disciple Gladys is using [Healing Touch] to mend your injuries.]
[First Arrival! Welcome! You have arrived at the Teleportation Nexus of Arcanum Haven.]
[Notice! Titan Veridius, the Guardian of Mystical Bridges, has taken notice of your arrival.]
[Notice! Titan Veridius is very displeased with the manner of your arrival.]
[Notice! Titan Astralindar, the Keeper of Mystical Knowledge, has taken note of your arrival.]
[Notice! Titan Astralindar is curious as to the meaning behind your flimsy disguise.]
[Warning! Titan Lustragon, the Radiant Vanguard of the Divine Realm, is searching for your location.]
[Alert! A Primordial being has blocked Lustragon from tracking your exact location.]
[Caution! Three Primordial Beings have taken an interest in your inferior existence. You have either accomplished an incredible feat or committed an act of notable evil. Tread Carefully Initiate.]
[Notice! Titan Astralindar’s interest in you has increased. She bids you welcome to the Mystic Realms.]
“There,” Disciple Gladys murmured with faint relief somewhere behind the clutter of screens. “Organs and bones all mended. She should be stable for now.”
'Perhaps I underestimated her.' Mercedes managed to raise a single brow and then shuddered beneath the overwhelming energies surging through her tired body like a tidal wave. The familiar sensation of something dislodging in her chest caused the albino to roll over quickly as she coughed up the blood clogging her throat.
“Oh!” the Priestess murmured in surprise, hurriedly shifting away from the tainted blood. “Right, airways come next. How could I forget.”
The Sparrow ignored the Disciple’s mumbling as she clutched her chest, keenly aware of the franticly beating organ racing maddingly against her ribs. ‘Something still feels—wrong.’
The euphoric feeling of numbing bliss faded abruptly as the divine magic still humming inside the albino collided with the dark seal that barred it from reaching Mercedes’s soul.
‘Wait—what happens when two forms of conflicting magic are trapped inside the same vessel?’
Her answer came as the excess divine magic pressed itself against the source of hostile magic and aggressively attempted to remove it. The Sparrow’s soul, upon which her Master had imprinted his dark seal, suffered the repercussions as the Primordial's malevolent magic pulsated through her body, eradicating the Disciple’s healing spell in an instant and draining Mercedes’s vitality in the process.
[Status Update! Caution! Your health has dropped below 50%.]
The Sparrow’s body spasmed in response, her lung spitting out blackened blood as the startled Priestess yelped in surprise. The annoying panels of information that had previously cluttered Mercedes’s vision vanished as her pink eyes focused on a yellow diamond-shaped orb flashing in the corner of her vision.
“I—I don’t understand,” Gladys stammered in disbelief as she attempted to steady the convulsing albino. “She was stable!”
“Demonic magic, probably. We should notify the Academy. We need a Master to deal with this.”
“Watch her head!” someone shouted unhelpfully after the albino’s skull cracked against the pavement beneath her.
Mercedes clenched her teeth as she willed her overstimulated nerves and muscles to relax just before a second wave of dark magic pulsed through her again. The Sparrow blinked as she watched the diamond orb shift from yellow to orange.
[Status Update! Critical Condition! Your health has dropped below 25%]
‘Fuck. Twice in one day?’
Faces and hands pressed in around her as the accursed Disciple knelt over the violently shaking albino in a familiar stance.
‘That bitch is going to get me killed. The fucking irony!’
“Stop!” An angry, stern voice that wasn’t the Sparrow's cut through the crowd as the Priestess faltered halfway through casting her spell. “This one is beyond your capabilities, Disciple Gladys. Perhaps analyze your patient properly before you end up killing them with your divine ignorance.”
“Master Nicodemus!” Gladys sputtered as she scrambled back, relinquishing her position to a man dressed in black robes embroidered with ethereal golden vines and purple runes.
Mercedes could only blink against the tears filling her vision as she was unceremoniously lifted into a sitting position and then cradled against the stranger’s arm and chest. A vial of wine-colored fluids appeared against her lips.
“Here, drink this,” the man called Nicodemus ordered curtly with the tone of one used to giving commands. “All of it.”
A single glance at the strange diamond orb, which now flashed a crimson red, was all it took for the Sparrow to realize she was seconds away from returning to the cold grip of the Abyss. She used what remaining strength she had to unclench her jaw and teeth before parting her lips.
A surprisingly sweet flavor ignited her taste buds as the vial’s fluids slipped effortlessly down the albino’s throat, flooding her body with a cool, healing tingle that, thankfully, appeared to ease the dark Primordial’s malevolent seal.
“There, crisis avoided,” Nicodemus observed with heavy cynicism as his attention returned to the dumbfounded Priestess. “I trust you won’t be charging her for the effort you spent in nearly killing her, Disciple Gladys?”
“What? No, I—wait! Professor! I didn’t—”
“Then I will handle her care and registration from here,” Nicodemus interjected as he stood, lifting the still-shaking Sparrow effortlessly in his arms.
"Hold on, Professor! She's a Raven from a contested territorial world! That means she falls under our Temple's jurisdiction!"
"Well, you're more than welcome to encourage Serenitus’s Temple to file a complaint with the Academy—I shall have a detailed report of your abysmal performance waiting for them."
“I didn’t try to kill her! I don’t know what happened!” Gladys protested in evident frustration as the crowd around them dispersed, clearing a path before the towering Professor.
“Then I suggest you take some time to reflect on what steps you might have missed that a simple healing potion could easily remedy, Disciple,” Nicodemus retorted coldly as he strode away from the quivering Priestess. “If you can’t work out the problem on your own, then perhaps your Master can enlighten you. Good day.”
The albino’s cheek bounced limply against the Professor’s shoulder as she raised her head, blinking as she took in the majestic city lights and buildings that sprawled out all around them, stretching toward the distant horizon.
“Wh-where—” Mercedes squeaked out hoarsely and grimaced in embarrassment. Despite the diamond orb, which she suspected indicated her vitality, being completely full and illuminated in a fuchsia-pink glow, the albino struggled to focus on the mesmerizing view of the strange city that blurred past them.
“Rest,” Nicodemus commanded. “Arcane and Divine Magic can heal many things, but they cannot remove the trauma inflicted on the mind and soul.”
The Sparrow frowned at the elegant silver chain attached to a pair of crystal-clear spectacles with silver frames that faintly obscured the two golden-amber eyes staring down at her with clinical indifference.
“Sleep.”
‘Does he have to speak to me like I’m some sort of dog?’
Mercedes’s irritation faded as the enticing tendrils of sleep washed over her with just a hint of arcane magic that tugged loose the knotted coils of her lingering resistance. She fought against its pull stubbornly, just long enough to register the enchanted green quest screen hovering in the corner of her vision that flashed with a radiant golden gleam.
[Quest Update: [Safely infiltrate the Mystic Realms] Is Complete!]
[Rewards deferred until a Mystic Inventory or Mystic Bank Account has been obtained.]
[Alert! The Quest Giver has automatically been updated with your progress.]
[Notice! Vortexus is attempting to open a line of communication with you. Access Restricted. Attempt Unsuccessful.]
'Right. From here on, I'm on my own. Finally....'